Free daily briefing on global business news.
From hand-carved mahjong tiles in a Hung Hom family workshop to neon signs still bent by a master with 70 years of experience
Annie Spratt / Unsplash
Hong Kong has always been something more than its skyline suggests, despite the city’s considerable reputation for skyscrapers and speed. Beyond the harbor views and rooftop bars, the city’s genuine heart lives in its quiet workshops, where generations of inherited knowledge and skill pass down through families. The tile carver at her narrow bench, the tailor measuring silk by touch, the noodle maker bouncing on a bamboo pole at dawn: these trades shaped daily life throughout Hong Kong long before the harbor filled with glass towers, and behind each one today stands a person who has dedicated a lifetime to keeping that knowledge intact.
Finding these workshops takes a little genuine preparation. Some sit tucked down side streets with no English signage, while others look, from the outside, like any other shuttered shopfront. Several artisans speak limited English, so downloading a translation app before visiting genuinely helps. Many of these spaces stay small and working, some even doubling as family homes, so the usual courtesies apply: always ask before photographing, and book ahead specifically if hoping to join a workshop or commission a piece.
